What is land ownership as opposed to renting?

I told you recently that I have bought my farmhouse and land on Tuscany Island.

What does this mean? How is it different from renting?

Well, at the moment, it’s certainly not cheaper! My old home cost a certain amount to rent each week – 800 Lindens. That’s 2,400 Lindens a month – getting on for £5 or US$10. Set against that, it occupied 1024 sq m and, in addition to the 180 prims of the castle (a snip), I had 200 prims allowance. So I was paying rent that worked out to 2.34 Lindens per sq m, and had a prim allowance of 0.37 per sq m.

My farmhouse occupies 3584 sq m, and I can place 1230 prims on it. That’s an allowance of .34 prims per sq. m – slightly lower. I now pay tier to Linden Labs of the equivalent of L$11,606 (or US$44.10, £22). That equivalent to 3.23 Lindens per sq m. So on both tier and prims, I am slightly worse off – and I’m also down the purchase price too. So where is the benefit?

Well, there are benefits. For one thing, my situation was hardly typical. Most people pay a considerably higher rent than I do, and for fewer amenities. I was actually extremely lucky to come into the sim where I rented my castle when I did – and friendly enough with the sim owner to have my rent stay the same. It would be more realistic to expect to pay more than 5,000 per month for a castle like that. In addition, compared to the area of land I rented, the prim allowance was very good (although challenging when it came to furnishing a large castle). When looked at in that light, my situation in owning would put me in a better position than the average renter.

The other advantage of owning as opposed to renting is that you have more flexibility. When you rent, you will, to a greater or lesser extent, be bound by what the landlord/lady decrees. They will, in all probability, supply the building you are living in; they may also supply the furniture. If you decide that, actually, you would rather have a different house altogether on the lot, or you want to put up an orangery, unless your landlord/landlady approves, that ain’t going to happen. They may also be responsible for security arrangements.

They may also control the skies. You might be in a position to have a house on the ground – but the sky could be rented to someone else for their skybox. If you are renting, it’s important to establish if you have clear rental rights all the way up, or if you are just renting the patch of ground (or, indeed, sky).

The other thing about rentals is that most contracts are short term. If the landowner decides to change anything, then really you have to clear out and find somewhere else. In practice, most landowners are happy with longterm rentals – they don’t have to have the hassle of finding new tenants all the time. But the renter has very little security and is generally at his/her landlord’s mercy.

Having said all that, I’ve been a very happy renter in two locations – my castle and my offices in Venice. But the advantages of owning a home are significant – not least in providing an object lesson for readers who want to learn about such things!

Next article in this series:
Buying from Linden versus buying privately – what are the pros and cons? (Coming soon)